The first-ever global longlist for the Man Booker Prize was announced Wednesday, and includes four Americans. For 2014, books written in English and published in Britain were eligible, regardless of the author's nationality.

Americans on the list are Joshua Ferris, Karen Joy Fowler, Siri Hustvedt and Richard Powers. Joseph O'Neill, who lives in New York, was also longlisted but as an Irish American had already been eligible for the prize.

All told, the longlist has six Britons, four Americans, one Irish writer, one Irish American and one Australian.

Previously, only authors from Britain, the Commonwealth nations, Ireland and Zimbabwe were eligible. When the change was announced last year, some in the British literary world expressed concern that British writers might be shortchanged by the expansion, shouldered aside by the larger American publishing market.

The significant presence of American authors on the list may give them cause for continued concern.

As in previous years, some of the books have not yet been published in the U.S. Most interestingly from the publishing side, "The Wake" by Paul Kingsnorth was published by Unbound, a crowd-funded publisher.

This year's winner will receive an award of about $85,000 at a ceremony Oct. 14 in London. Before then, the longlist will be whittled down to a shortlist, and British oddsmakers will take bets on the winner.